Disclaimer: Power Rangers does not belong to me.
A/N: After a lot of debate considering the mixed reviews I received since posting "Only Time Will Tell," I have decided to continue with this story and in the way I wanted to write it. Just please keep in mind if you do decided to continue reading that this is tale of a Syd/Sky/Z love triangle. So if you have been following the story up till this point, you understand now there will be points that will be Sky/Z (parts that take place in the present-day) and points that are Syd/Sky (parts that take place in the future). However, the story will have an ending that I hope will satisfy fans of either pairing.
Again, I don't really have a strong preference on which SPD girl I prefer Sky 'cause I've written other stories on both couplings. With "Only Time Will Tell," I am just trying do something different from the other SPD fics that are out there and also with a different tone from the other stories I've written so far. That being said, all comments and criticisms welcome so please R&R. It really helps!
Chapter 5: The One to Break My Heart
"Syd is married to Sky Tate."
Z couldn't stop the horrid words for reverberating in her head. She and Sky had just kissed in her room that afternoon; their future together seeming so full of potential. And yet now that Z was actually in the future, she had discovered that they would never stand a chance as a couple.
"Nova, did you, I mean me, I mean you as me..." Z stuttered to the older version of herself.
"Just call me Nova," reassured the ranger. "Nobody calls me Z anyways these days."
"I heard Sam call you that," shot back Z. "Sky can't call you by your real name, but Sam can because he's your new boyfriend?"
"My relationship with Sam shouldn't concern you right now," replied Nova, trying to calm Z.
"How is it none of my concern?" yelled Z, overpowered by her confused emotions. "I AM you! And against my will, I get brought to the future where I discover that the guy I'm crazy about at seventeen-year-old will in the future marry my best friend while I end up with the boy I currently regard as my little brother."
Overwhelmed by all that had transpired, Z felt tear springing to her eyes. Sitting down on the bed beside Z, Nova put her arms comfortingly around the younger girl.
"We dated for over six years," said Nova quietly, realizing the need to tell Z the truth.
"You and Sky?" asked Z, looking up surprised. Nova had a distant look in her eye that was one of bittersweet nostalgia. Sighing heavily, Nova began to reveal the painful past to her unsuspecting younger self.
"As you well know, it was against Academy rules for cadets to date. Yet everyone saw that Sky and I really were falling in love, so Commander Cruger allowed it. It was a blissful time in all our lives. I had Sky, Syd and Lex were engaged, Jack and Ally were married and Sophie had returned to the Earth SPD branch much to the delight of Bridge. She took over the position of the green SPD Ranger when Sam left at fourteen to go work at the SPD division on KO-35.
My relationship with Sky was one of the best times in my life. He was my best friend, the shoulder I could always lean on for support, and the person I felt most alive around. We loved each other so deeply. We even talked about getting married."
As Z listened enraptured, she noticed Nova's face furrow into a frown. "And then?" asked Z, urging Nova to continue.
"Did Sam when he visited the past ever tell you that the Nova powers were developed before those for the Omega Ranger?"
"No," replied a shocked Z. "But then again, Sam also didn't tell that his girlfriend in the future – the Nova ranger – was actually me."
"He was wise not to do so," sighed Nova. "You wouldn't have believed him at the time anyway."
"So if the Nova Ranger existed before the Omega Ranger, that means..." a puzzled Z asked trying to put the pieces together. Taking on a melancholy expression, Nova continued her story.
"Kat Manx and Boom developed the Nova powers for a female ranger when I was twenty-three years old. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. The suit was impenetrable, and Electro-Fist was the strongest hand-held weapon SPD had developed to date. The force and speed that came with the Nova powers were phenomenal.
Commander Cruger preferred that a more experienced female ranger took on trying out the Nova powers. You would think that Syd, Sophie and I would have been cat-fighting over the opportunity. Cruger's catch was the girl who got the Nova powers would be the first in a new breed of SPD Rangers that would represent the Earth branch in solving galactic crime cases. To sum it up, the new Nova Ranger would be gone from Earth for months at a time.
Sky ordered a team meeting to discuss how we should handle the situation. Being his girlfriend, Sky didn't want me to take on the Nova Ranger position. Syd by now was married to Lex, and Sophie didn't want to leave Bridge. They both flat out refused to take on the responsibilities of the Nova Ranger. At the meeting, we decided as a team to tell Cruger that he should give the Nova powers to a member outside B-Squad. But I secretly was not happy with the decision, because…" Nova's voice trailed off.
"Because you wanted to be a part of something bigger," finished Z quietly, knowing herself too well. Looking at Nova, she saw the older woman with tears in her eyes as she recounted this difficult time in her life.
"The Nova Ranger was a chance to make a difference not just on Earth, but in the entire universe. I couldn't let this opportunity of a lifetime go. So without Sky knowing, I went to Commander Cruger and told him I wanted to become the Nova Ranger. I tried to make Sky see how important this was to me and all the good I could do as the Nova Ranger for the whole SPD organization. Yet all Sky saw was me abandoning B-Squad… and my boyfriend."
Confusion and anger coursing through her body, Z sprang up from the bed and ran out of the infirmary room. "Z, come back!" called Nova urgently, but the younger girl was too upset to listen. Flying through the Academy, Z didn't even pay attention to the futuristic teleportation portals or the ultramodern carts that hovered mid-air. Z's entire body was focused on finding one person.
She skidded to a stop when off in the distance the thirty-eight-year-old red SPD Ranger Sky Tate. Though his face had matured, Sky's chiseled features and tough body were just as perfected as when he was eighteen. Unaware of her presence, Sky walked down the hall away from Z still carrying himself with that same confident swagger and sense of SPD pride. Hurt and heartbreak taking a hold of Z's better judgment, she found herself unable to hold her tongue.
"You're a bastard!" screamed Z down the hall toward the older red SPD Ranger.
"Cruger informed me that a younger version of Nova from the past had arrived at the base," said Sky, turning around slowly. "I guess you must be her."
"How could you be so heartless to me?" asked Z enraged. "I mean, Nova," she corrected, blushing. "She followed her dreams by taking the Nova powers, and you rewarded her ambition by breaking up with her?"
Sky looked at Z in utter shock. "Nova broke up with me!" shot back Sky surprised. "She at the time broke MY heart! Did Nova leave out that part of the story?"
"Z ran out of the room before I could finish," explained Nova walking up. "She doesn't know everything yet."
"Then tell me," screamed Z angrily at Nova. "Tell me how you could break up with a guy you dated for six years and that you loved more than anything!"
"Despite our different views on me taking the Nova powers, we did want to keep our relationship going," explained Z. Yet once I became the Nova Ranger, I was away from Earth for months at a time working on investigative cases. It was just too hard to keep the relationship going under those circumstances. As a result, our feelings for each other gradually began to change."
Change. The word sickened Z. She had been dealing with too much change in her life during the present lately: Jack leaving SPD, Sam becoming the green ranger, Sky kissing her, and now, unsuspectingly being transported to the future where everything she knew had been turned upside down.
"I hate you both!" spat Z bitterly as she pushed past Sky and continued running down the hall.
"I never dealt with change well," sighed Nova, watching her younger self tear down the corridor.
"You still don't," chuckled Sky, putting his arm around Nova.
"I know!" exclaimed Nova, giving Sky a huge hug. "I'm going to miss you when you retire from active ranger status next month."
"Come on," said Sky, giving Nova a sisterly ruffle of her hair. "I'll help you look for Z."
"Thanks," said Nova gratefully. "She doesn't understand that two people can break up…"
"… and still be friends," finished Sky.
"Best friends," grinned Nova.
"That's right, Z," smiled Sky. "I mean, Nova," corrected Sky seeing his friend's body tense up. "I forgot the rule we're only allowed to refer to you by your ranger name."
"That's not the reason though why I don't like you calling me by my real name," thought Nova to herself sadly. But that reason was something Sky could never know.
"I can't believe I forgot your Nova name regulation," continued Sky.
"And we know what a stickler you are for following the rules!" teased Nova, relaxing again.
"And then there are things never change!" perked up Sky. He and Nova shared a long laugh.
Walking down the hall with Sky, Nova realized Z had been right on one thing: it was awfully ironic that the man she had dated for six years was now like an older brother to her while the boy in her youth she had regarded like a sibling had turned out to be the real love of her life.
"Sam," Nova thought to herself comfortingly, thinking of the man who she had come over the years to realize was her true soul mate. The only person who she still allowed to call her Z.